Network-based intelligent radio access control

ABSTRACT

Concepts and technologies are described herein for a network-based radio access control. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a radio access technology selection system enables an intelligent multi-radio access control that can select one or more radio access technologies that is best-suited for one or more target mobile devices based upon network conditions, policies, user profiles, and/or other information. The radio access technology selection system also informs the target mobile device(s) of one or more networks that utilize the selected radio access technology. In this manner, the radio access technology selection system can steer traffic to various networks operating in accordance with different radio access technologies to improve user experience, especially in network traffic congested areas, and to efficiently leverage network resources for mobile telecommunications and WI-FI networks.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The concepts and technologies disclosed herein generally relate towireless telecommunications. More specifically, the concepts andtechnologies disclosed herein relate to network-based intelligent radioaccess control in wireless telecommunications networks.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, mobile telecommunications carriers have experienced adramatic increase in traffic on their networks, and this trend willlikely continue. This increase in traffic has been caused in part by theincreased adoption of smartphones and other devices that rely on mobiletelecommunications networks, and the migration of many customers fromutilizing landline telecommunication services to utilizing mobiletelecommunication services for their communications needs. To meet thedemands of higher traffic and to improve the end user experience, mobiletelecommunications carriers are examining mechanisms by which to improvenetwork efficiency, network capacity, and the end user experience, whilekeeping operational costs at a level conducive to maintainingcompetitive rates for the services they provide.

SUMMARY

Concepts and technologies are described herein for a network-based radioaccess control. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a radio accesstechnology (“RAT”) selection system enables an intelligent multi-radioaccess control that can select one or more RATs that are best-suited forone or more target mobile devices based upon network conditions,policies, user profiles, and/or other information. In some embodiments,one or more RAT are selected on a per application and/or per servicebasis. The RAT selection system also informs the target mobile device(s)of one or more networks that utilize the selected RAT(s). In thismanner, the RAT selection system can steer traffic to various networksoperating in accordance with different RATs to improve user experience,especially in network traffic congested areas, and to efficientlyleverage network resources for mobile telecommunications and WI-FInetworks.

According to another aspect disclosed herein, a RAT selection systemincludes a processor and memory including instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations.The operations can include receiving a policy and receiving network loadinformation for multiple radio access networks (“RANs”) that one or moretarget mobile devices are capable of connecting to. In some embodiments,the RANs operate in accordance with different RATs. The operations canalso include selecting a RAN from the multiple RANs based upon thepolicy and the network load information, generating a network selectiondirected to the one or more target mobile devices, and sending thenetwork selection to the one or more target mobile devices. The networkselection can include instructions for the one or more target mobiledevices to connect to the selected RAN(s).

According to another aspect disclosed herein, a method for selecting aRAN for one or more target mobile devices includes operations performedby a RAT selection system. The operations can include receiving a policyand receiving network load information for multiple RANs that one ormore target mobile devices are capable of connecting to. In someembodiments, the RANs operate in accordance with different RATs. Theoperations can also include selecting a RAN from the multiple RANs basedupon the policy and the network load information, generating a networkselection directed to the one or more target mobile devices, and sendingthe network selection to the target mobile device. The network selectioncan include instructions for the one or more target mobile devices toconnect to the selected RAN(s).

According to another aspect disclosed herein, a computer-readablestorage medium includes computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations. Theoperations can include receiving one or more policies that specify oneor more conditions under which to select each RAT of multiple RATsutilized by multiple RANs that one or more target mobile devices arecapable of connecting to. The operations can also include receiving oneor more user profiles associated with one or more users of the one ormore target mobile devices, collecting network load information from theRANs, determining which RAN to select based upon the one or morepolicies, the network load information, and the one or more userprofiles, generating a network selection that specifies which RAN thetarget mobile device should connect to based upon the determination, andsending the network selection to the one or more target mobile devices.

It should be appreciated that the above-described subject matter may beimplemented as a computer-controlled apparatus, a computer process, acomputing system, or as an article of manufacture such as acomputer-readable storage medium. These and various other features willbe apparent from a reading of the following Detailed Description and areview of the associated drawings.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedthat this Summary be used to limit the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited toimplementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part ofthis disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of an illustrativeoperating environment for various concepts disclosed herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a radio accesstechnology selection system configured to select a radio access networkand provide the network selection to a mobile device configured toconnect to the selected radio access network, according to anillustrative embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating aspects of a method selecting aradio access network for one or more target mobile devices, according toan illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example computer systemcapable of implementing aspects of the embodiments presented herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example mobile device capableof implementing aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to aspects disclosed herein, a network-based radio accesstechnology selection system enables an intelligent multi-radio accesscontrol that can select a radio access technology that is best-suitedfor one or more target mobile devices based upon network conditions,policies, user profiles, and/or other information. The radio accesstechnology selection system also informs the target mobile device(s) ofone or more networks that utilize the selected radio access technology.In this manner, the radio access technology selection system can steertraffic to various networks operating in accordance with different radioaccess technologies to improve user experience, especially in networktraffic congested areas, and to efficiently leverage network resourcesfor mobile telecommunications and WI-FI networks.

While the subject matter described herein may be presented, at times, inthe general context of program modules that execute in conjunction withthe execution of an operating system and application programs on acomputer system, those skilled in the art will recognize that otherimplementations may be performed in combination with other types ofprogram modules. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,components, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and/orother types of structures that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the subject matter described herein may be practicedwith other computer systems, including hand-held devices, mobiledevices, wireless devices, multiprocessor systems, distributed computingsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,minicomputers, mainframe computers, routers, switches, other computingdevices described herein, and the like.

In the following detailed description, references are made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown byway of illustration specific embodiments or examples. Referring now tothe drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements throughoutthe several figures, example aspects of network-based intelligent radioaccess control will be presented.

Referring now to FIG. 1, aspects of an illustrative operatingenvironment 100 for various concepts disclosed herein will be described.It should be understood that the operating environment 100 and thevarious components thereof have been greatly simplified for purposes ofdiscussion. Accordingly, additional or alternative components of theoperating environment 100 can be made available without departing fromthe embodiments described herein.

The operating environment 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a mobile device102 that is configured to connect to and communicate with a plurality ofradio access networks (“RANs”) 104A-104N (hereinafter, at times,referred to collectively or generically as “RANs 104”) for voice and/ordata communications between the mobile device 102 and one or more othermobile devices, computers, servers, networking devices, and/or networks(not shown). Although in the illustrated example the mobile device 102is shown as being in communication with three RANs, the mobile device102 may be in communication with any number of RANs, and, at times, maybe in simultaneous communication with multiple RANs.

The mobile device 102 may be a cellular phone, a feature phone, asmartphone, a mobile computing device, a tablet computing device, aportable television, a portable video game console, or any othercomputing device that is configured to connect to and communicate withone or more of the RANs 104 via one or more radio access components. Insome embodiments, the mobile device 102 connects to and communicateswith one or more of the RANs 104 on a per application basis. In someembodiments, the mobile device 102 includes an integrated or externalradio access component that facilitates wireless communication with oneor more of the RANs 104. The radio access component may be a cellulartelephone that is in wired or wireless communication with the mobiledevice 102 to facilitate a tethered data connection to one or more ofthe RANs 104. Alternatively, the access component includes a wirelesstransceiver configured to send data to and receive data from one or moreof the RANs 104 and a universal serial bus (“USB”) or anothercommunication interface for connection to the mobile device 102 so as toenable tethering. In any case, the mobile device 102 can wirelesslycommunicate with one or more of the RANs 104 over a radio/air interfacein accordance with one or more radio access technologies (“RATs”). Themobile device 102 may also initiate, receive, and/or maintain voicecalls with one or more other voice-enabled telecommunications devicessuch as other mobile devices or landline devices (not shown). The mobiledevice 102 may also exchange Short Message Service (“SMS”) messages,Multimedia Message Service (“MMS”) messages, email, and/or othermessages with other devices (not shown).

Each of the RANs 104 may operate in accordance with one or more mobiletelecommunications standards including, but not limited to, GlobalSystem for Mobile communications (“GSM”), Code Division Multiple Access(“CDMA”) ONE, CDMA2000, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(“UMTS”), Long-Term Evolution (“LTE”), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (“WiMAX”), other 802.XX technologies, and/or the like.Each of the RANs 104 can utilize various channel access methods (whichmay or may not be used by the aforementioned standards) including, butnot limited to, Time Division Multiple Access (“TDMA”), FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (“FDMA”), CDMA, wideband CDMA (“W-CDMA”),Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (“OFDM”), Space DivisionMultiple Access (“SDMA”), and/or the like to provide a radio/airinterface to the mobile device 102. Data communications can be providedin part by the RANs 104 using General Packet Radio Service (“GPRS”),Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (“EDGE”), the High-Speed PacketAccess (“HSPA”) protocol family including High-Speed Downlink PacketAccess (“HSDPA”), Enhanced Uplink (“EUL”) or otherwise termed High-SpeedUplink Packet Access (“HSUPA”), Evolved HSPA (“HSPA+”), LTE, and/orvarious other current and future wireless data access technologies.

Each of the RANs 104 may be a GSM RAN (“GRAN”), a GSM EDGE RAN(“GERAN”), a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (“UTRAN”), anE-UTRAN, any combination thereof, and/or the like. As such, each of theRANs 104 may include one or more base transceiver stations (“BTSs”), oneor more Node Bs, one or more eNodeBs, and/or the like. As used herein, a“base station” refers to a radio receiver and/or transmitter(collectively, transceiver) that are configured to provide a radio/airinterface by which one or more mobile devices, such as the mobile device102, can connect to a network. Accordingly, a base station encompassesall the aforementioned networking nodes that are capable of providing aradio/air interface regardless of the technologies utilized to do so.Moreover, a base station can be in communication with one or moreantennas, each of which may be configured in accordance with any antennadesign specifications to provide a physical interface for receiving andtransmitting radio waves to/from a network.

The RANs 104 can be part of one or more mobile telecommunicationsnetworks. As used herein, a mobile telecommunications network includesone or more RANs and a wireless wide area network (“WWAN”), which may,in turn, include one or more core networks such as a circuit-switchedcore network (“CS CN”), a packet-switched core network (“PS CN”), and/oran IP multimedia subsystem (“IMS”) core network. The WWAN can utilizeone or more mobile telecommunications technologies, such as thosedescribed above, to provide voice and/or data services via one or moreRANs to one or more radio components of one or more mobile devices, suchas the mobile device 102. Moreover, a mobile telecommunications networkcan provide a connection to the Internet or other WAN so that the mobiledevice 102 can access Internet content such as Websites, streamingmedia, online video games, downloadable content, and the like.

In addition to or as an alternative to operating in accordance one ormore mobile telecommunications standards, one or more of the RANs 104may operate in accordance with one or more Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.11 standards such as IEEE 802.11a,802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and/or future 802.11 standard (referred toherein collectively as “WI-FI”). Draft 802.11 standards are alsocontemplated. A WI-FI network may be implemented utilizing one or morewireless WI-FI access points. In some implementations, one or more ofthe wireless WI-FI access points is a mobile device or other computingdevice that functions as a WI-FI hotspot. In some implementations, themobile device 102 connects to a WI-FI network facilitated in part by oneor more of the RANs 104 via one or more secure connections, each ofwhich may utilize an encryption technology such as, but not limited to,WI-FI Protected Access (“WPA”), WPA2, Wired Equivalent Privacy (“WEP”),and/or the like. Moreover, a WI-FI network can provide a connection tothe Internet or other WAN so that the mobile device 102 can accessInternet content such as Websites, streaming media, online video games,downloadable content, and the like.

As used herein, a RAT can refer to any mobile telecommunicationsstandard or draft standard thereof, any IEEE 802.11 standard or draftstandard thereof, or any other technology by which a mobile device, suchas the mobile device 102, can wirelessly access a network, such as oneor more of the RANs 104.

The operating environment 100 also includes a RAT selection system 106.The RAT selection system 106 is configured to enable an intelligentmulti-radio access control that can select one or more RATs that arebest-suited for one or more target mobile devices, such as the mobiledevice 102, based upon network conditions, policies, user profiles,applications, and/or other information. The RAT selection system 106also informs the target mobile device(s) of one or more networks thatutilize the selected RAT(s). In this manner, the RAT selection system106 can steer traffic to various networks operating in accordance withdifferent RATs to improve user experience, especially in network trafficcongested areas, and to efficiently leverage network resources formobile telecommunications and WI-FI networks. These and other aspects ofthe RAT selection system 106 will be described in greater detail below.

In the illustrated example, the RAT selection system 106 is configuredto receive load information 108A-108N (hereinafter, at times, referredto collectively or generically as “load information 108”) from the RANs104, and utilize the load information 108 at least in part to determinewhich RAN(s) of the RANs 104 the mobile device 102 should connect to. Inaddition to the load information 108, the RAT selection system 106 canutilize one or more policies 110 received from a policy server 112and/or one or more user profiles 114 received from a user profile server116 in determining which RAN(s) of the RANs 104 the mobile device 102should connect to. The RAT selection system 106 can generate a networkselection 118 that includes an identification of which RAN(s) the mobiledevice 102 should connect to, and can send the network selection 118 tothe mobile device 102. In some embodiments, the network selection 118includes an identification of which RAN(s) the mobile device 102 shouldconnect to for which application(s) and/or service(s). The mobile device102 can connect to one or more of the RANs 104 based upon the RAN(s)identified in the network selection 118.

In some embodiments, the load information 108 includes historic networkload information. Historic network load information is used herein todescribe data obtained by the RAT selection system 106 based uponnetwork load experienced by one or more of the RANs 104 in the past orotherwise in non-real-time. In some embodiments, historic network loadinformation is utilized by the RAT selection system 106 to identify oneor more network load trends experienced by a RAN over a specified periodof time. This trending network load information can be useful to the RATselection system 106 to predict times during which network load isfavorable or not to support communications from additional mobiledevices, such as the mobile device 102.

In some other embodiments, the load information 108 includes currentnetwork load information. Current network load data is used herein todescribe network load data that is obtained by the RAT selection system106 based upon a network load experienced by one or more of the RANs 104in real-time or near real-time. Real-time, in this context, is theactual time during which a network load is experienced by one or more ofthe RANs 104. Near real-time, in this context, is the actual time duringwhich a network load is experienced by a RAN plus a delay on the orderof seconds, minutes, or some order of magnitude thereof, for example.

What constitutes near-real time network load information versus historicnetwork load information can be defined by the owner and/or operator ofthe RAT selection system 106, a service provider providing service viaone or more of the RANs 104, and/or another entity. It should beunderstood that real-time network load information associated with areal-time network load information of one or more of the RANs 104 andnear real-time network load information associated with a near real-timenetwork load of one or more of the RANs 104 might be received by the RATselection system 106 with delay caused by latency and/or other networkphenomena. Moreover, this delay may increase with the additional timeneeded to provide the load information 108 to the RAT selection system106.

In the illustrated embodiment, the policies 110 are stored in a policydatabase 120 with any number of other policies. The policy database 120may be separate from and in communication with the policy server 112 asin the illustrated embodiment, or alternatively may be provided as partof the policy server 112. In any case, the policy server 112 can obtainthe policies 110 from the policy database 120 and send the policies 110to the RAT selection system 106 in response to a request received fromthe RAT selection system 106, periodically, or in response to an event,such as a change to one or more of the policies 110.

As used herein, the term “policy” refers to one or more settings, one ormore configurations, one or more rules, and/or the like that define, atleast in part, one or more courses or methods of action in light of oneor more conditions to be used in a determination made by the RATselection system 106 regarding which RAN(s) of the RANs 104 the mobiledevice 102 and/or other mobile devices should connect to. In someembodiments, a policy includes one or more rules that specify one ormore if-then conditions by which to handle a particular situation, suchas redirecting network traffic based upon network load experienced byone or more of the RANs 104 and reported to the RAT selection system 106as part of the load information 108. In some other embodiments, a policyincludes one or more matrices of cause and effect conditions, tables ofactions, or the like for responding to or otherwise dealing with certainstimuli, such as network conditions evidenced by the load information108, the user profiles 114, and/or other stimuli.

Also in the illustrated embodiment, the user profiles 114 can be storedin a profile database 122 with any number of other user profiles. Theprofile database 122 may be separate from and in communication with theuser profile server 116 as in the illustrated embodiment, oralternatively may be provided as part of the user profile server 116. Inany case, the user profile server 116 can obtain the user profiles 114in response to a request received from the RAT selection system 106,periodically, or in response to an event, such as a change to one ormore of the user profiles 114.

As used herein, the term “user profile” refers to a collection of dataassociated with a user that accesses one or more of the RANs 104 via adevice such as the mobile device 102. A user in this context refers toan individual or other entity. A user profile can define informationregarding a service agreement between a user and one or more serviceproviders that provide telecommunications service, at least in part, viaone or more of the RANs 104. The service agreement may include terms ofservice for pre-paid and/or post-paid service. The service agreement mayinclude terms of roaming agreements between two or more mobiletelecommunications carriers. The service agreement may define a servicetier for the user. A service tier may establish a priority for a user inregard to utilizing network resources to connect to one or more of theRANs 104 via the mobile device 102.

In some embodiments, the RAT selection system 106 is owned and/oroperated by an owner and/or operator of one or more of the RANs 104. Insome embodiments, the policy server 112 is owned and/or operated by anowner and/or operator of one or more of the RANs 104. In someembodiments, the user profile server 116 is owned and/or operated by anowner and/or operator of one or more of the RANs 104. In someembodiments, the RAT selection system 106 includes the policy server 112and/or the user profile server 116.

It should be understood that some implementations of the operatingenvironment 100 include multiple mobile devices 102, multiple RATselection systems 106, multiple policy servers 112, multiple policydatabases 120, multiple user profile servers 116, and/or multipleprofile databases 122. Moreover, the RAT selection system 106, thepolicy server 112, and/or the user profile server 116 may be provided aspart of one or more distributed computing systems. Thus, the illustratedembodiment should be understood as being illustrative, and should not beconstrued as being limiting in any way.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a block diagram illustrating additional aspectsof the RAT selection system 106 and the mobile device 102 will bedescribed, according to an illustrative embodiment. In the illustratedembodiment, the RAT selection system 106 is configured to receive theload information 108, the policies 110, and the user profiles 114,utilize at least some of this information to determine which of the RANs104 the mobile device 102 should connect to, and provide the selectionof one or more of the RANs 104 to the mobile device 102 in the networkselection 118. The illustrated RAT selection system 106 includes anetwork decision engine 200 and a network database repository 202, bothof which will now be described in greater detail.

The network decision engine 200 utilizes the load information 108, thepolicies 110, the user profiles 114, or any combination thereof, to makea determination regarding which of the RAN(s) 104 the mobile device 102should connect to. In some embodiments, the network decision engine 200is an application program that includes computer-executable instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors of the RAT selectionsystem 106, cause the RAT selection system 106 to analyze the loadinformation 108, the policies 110, and the user profiles 114, alone orin any combination to select one or more of the RANs 104, and instructthe mobile device 102, and possibly one or more other target devices, toconnect to the selected RAN(s) via the network selection 118.

The network database repository 202 includes trending network loadinformation 204 for one or more of the RANs 104 and current network loadinformation 206 for one or more of the RANs 104. In some embodiments,the trending network load information 204 is received from one or moreof the RANs 104 via periodic network load updates, such as every fifteenminutes or other time period. In some embodiments, the current networkload information 206 is received from one or more of the RANs 104 in anevent-driven network load update. An event-driven network load updatemay be triggered at a RAN due to the network load experienced by thatRAN meeting or exceeding a pre-defined network load threshold. In someembodiments, the RAT selection system 106 can request the currentnetwork load information 206 if needed by the network decision engine200 to select one or more of the RANs 104. The network load information108 can include network load information received via periodic networkload updates and event-driven network load updates. It should beunderstood, however, that some implementations may utilize only thetrending network load information 204 or only the current network loadinformation 206. It should also be understood that although the networkdatabase repository 202 is shown as being included in the RAT selectionsystem 106, the network database repository 202 may be external to andin communication with the RAT selection system 106. In theseimplementations, the network database repository 202 may receive theload information 108 and provide the load information 108 to the RATselection system 106 via one or more wired or wireless communicationlinks.

The mobile device 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 includes an operating system208, a network connection manager 210, and one or more radio accesscomponents 212. The operating system 208 is a program for controllingthe operation of the mobile device 102. The operating system 208 caninclude a member of the SYMBIAN OS family of operating systems fromSYMBIAN LIMITED, a member of the WINDOWS MOBILE OS and/or WINDOWS PHONEOS families of operating systems from MICROSOFT CORPORATION, a member ofthe PALM WEBOS family of operating systems from HEWLETT PACKARDCORPORATION, a member of the BLACKBERRY OS family of operating systemsfrom RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED, a member of the IOS family of operatingsystems from APPLE INC., a member of the ANDROID OS family of operatingsystems from GOOGLE INC., and/or other operating systems. Theseoperating systems are merely illustrative of some contemplated operatingsystems that may be used in accordance with various embodiments of theconcepts and technologies described herein and therefore should not beconstrued as being limiting in any way.

The network connection manager 210 can be configured to manage all or aportion of the network connections available to the mobile device 102 ata given time, including, for example, connections established via one ormore WI-FI radios and/or one or more cellular radios of the mobiledevice 102, such as one or more of the radio access components 212. Insome embodiments, the operating system 208 notifies the networkconnection manager 210 that a connection is needed to communicate with aparticular one or more of the RANs 104 in accordance with the networkselection 118, and in response, the network connection manager 210initiates a connection thereto. In some other embodiments, the networkconnection manager 210 is included as part of the operating system 208and/or another application stored on the mobile device 102.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a flow diagram illustrating aspects of a method300 for selecting a RAN for one or more target mobile devices will bedescribed, according to an illustrative embodiment. It should beunderstood that the operations of the illustrative methods disclosedherein are not necessarily presented in any particular order and thatperformance of some or all of the operations in an alternative order(s)is possible and is contemplated. The operations have been presented inthe demonstrated order for ease of description and illustration.Operations may be combined, separated, added, omitted, modified, and/orperformed simultaneously or in another order without departing from thescope of the subject disclosure.

It also should be understood that the illustrated methods can be endedat any time and need not be performed in their entirety. Some or alloperations of the methods, and/or substantially equivalent operations,can be performed by execution of computer-executable instructionsincluded on a computer-readable storage media, as defined below. Theterm “computer-executable instructions,” and variants thereof, as usedin the description and claims, is used expansively herein to includeroutines, application programs, software, application modules, programmodules, components, data structures, algorithms, and the like.Computer-executable instructions can be implemented on various systemconfigurations, including single-processor or multiprocessor systems,distributed computing systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers,personal computers, hand-held computing devices, microprocessor-based,programmable consumer electronics, combinations thereof, and the like.

Thus, it should be appreciated that the logical operations describedherein may be implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented actsor program modules running on a computing system and/or (2) asinterconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within thecomputing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent onthe performance and other requirements of the computing system.Accordingly, the logical operations described herein are referred tovariously as states, operations, structural devices, acts, or modules.These operations, structural devices, acts, and modules may beimplemented in software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic,and any combination thereof.

The method 300 begins and proceeds to operation 302, wherein the RATselection system 106 receives one or more policies from the policyserver 112. From operation 302, the method 300 proceeds to operation304, wherein the RAT selection system 106 receives one or more userprofiles from the user profile server 116. From operation 304, themethod 300 proceeds to operation 306, wherein the RAT selection system106 receives network load information for a plurality of RANs. In someembodiments, the RANs are configured to operate in accordance withdifferent RATs.

At operation 308, the RAT selection system 106 selects a RAN based uponthe policies, the user profiles, and/or the network load information.From operation 308, the method 300 proceeds to operation 310, whereinthe RAT selection system 106 generates a network selection identifyingthe network selected at operation 308. From operation 310, the method300 proceeds to operation 312, wherein the RAT selection system 106sends the network selection to one or more target mobile devices toinstruct the target mobile device to connect to the network identifiedin the network selection. From operation 312, the method 300 proceeds tooperation 314, wherein the method 300 may end.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system 400 configuredto perform various operations disclosed herein. The computer system 400includes a processing unit 402, a memory 404, one or more user interfacedevices 406, one or more input/output (“I/O”) devices 408, and one ormore network devices 410, each of which is operatively connected to asystem bus 412. The system bus 412 enables bi-directional communicationbetween the processing unit 402, the memory 404, the user interfacedevices 406, the I/O devices 408, and the network devices 410. In someembodiments, the RAT selection system 106, the policy server 112, and/orthe user profile server 116 are configured like the computer system 400.It should be understood, however, that the RAT selection system 106, thepolicy server 112, and/or the user profile server 116 may includeadditional functionality or include less functionality than nowdescribed. In the illustrated embodiment, the computer system 400includes example software components for the RAT selection system 106.

The processing unit 402 may be a standard central processor thatperforms arithmetic and logical operations, a more specific purposeprogrammable logic controller (“PLC”), a programmable gate array, orother type of processor known to those skilled in the art and suitablefor controlling the operation of the computer system 400. Processingunits are generally known, and therefore are not described in furtherdetail herein.

The memory 404 communicates with the processing unit 402 via the systembus 412. In some embodiments, the memory 404 is operatively connected toa memory controller (not shown) that enables communication with theprocessing unit 402 via the system bus 412. The illustrated memory 404includes an operating system 414, the network decision engine 200, andthe network database repository 202.

The operating system 414 can include, but is not limited to, members ofthe WINDOWS, WINDOWS CE, WINDOWS MOBILE, and/or WINDOWS PHONE familiesof operating systems from MICROSOFT CORPORATION, the LINUX family ofoperating systems, the SYMBIAN family of operating systems from SYMBIANLIMITED, the BREW family of operating systems from QUALCOMM CORPORATION,the MAC OS and/or iOS families of operating systems from APPLE INC., theFREEBSD family of operating systems, the SOLARIS family of operatingsystems from ORACLE CORPORATION, other operating systems such asproprietary operating systems, and the like.

The user interface devices 406 may include one or more devices that auser utilizes to access the computer system 400. The user interfacedevices 406 may include, but are not limited to, computers, servers,personal digital assistants, telephones (e.g., cellular, IP, orlandline), or any suitable computing devices. The I/O devices 408 enablea user to interface with the program modules. In one embodiment, the I/Odevices 408 are operatively connected to an I/O controller (not shown)that enables communication with the processing unit 402 via the systembus 412. The I/O devices 408 may include one or more input devices, suchas, but not limited to, a keyboard, a mouse, or an electronic stylus.Further, the I/O devices 408 may include one or more output devices,such as, but not limited to, a display screen or a printer.

The network devices 410 enable the computer system 400 to communicatewith other networks or remote systems via a network 416, such as theRANs 104 illustrated and described with reference to FIG. 1 and/or othernetwork(s). Examples of the network devices 410 include, but are notlimited to, a modem, a radio frequency (“RF”) or infrared (“IR”)transceiver, a telephonic interface, a bridge, a router, or a networkcard. The network 416 may include a wireless network such as, but notlimited to, a WLAN such as a WI-FI network, a WWAN, a wireless PAN(“WPAN”) such as BLUETOOTH, or a wireless MAN (“WMAN”). Alternatively,the network 416 may be a wired network such as, but not limited to, aWAN such as the Internet, a LAN such as the Ethernet, a wired PAN, or awired MAN.

The network 416 embodied as a cellular network may utilize a mobiletelecommunications technology such as, but not limited to, GSM, UMTS,CDMA ONE, CDMA2000, LTE, and various other 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, and greatergeneration mobile telecommunications technologies. In addition, mobiledata communications technologies such as GPRS, EDGE, the HSPA protocolfamily including HSDPA, EUL or otherwise termed HSUPA, HSPA+, andvarious other current and future mobile data communications technologiesare contemplated for use by the network 416. Therefore, the embodimentspresented herein should not be construed as being limiting to aparticular mobile telecommunications technology and/or standardsutilizing such technologies.

Turning now to FIG. 5, an illustrative mobile device 500 and componentsthereof will be described. In some embodiments, the mobile device 102described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 can be configured asand/or can have an architecture similar or identical to the mobiledevice 500 described herein in FIG. 5. It should be understood, however,that the mobile device 102 may or may not include the functionalitydescribed herein with reference to FIG. 5. While connections are notshown between the various components illustrated in FIG. 5, it should beunderstood that some, none, or all of the components illustrated in FIG.5 can be configured to interact with one another to carry out variousdevice functions. In some embodiments, the components are arranged so asto communicate via one or more busses (not shown). Thus, it should beunderstood that FIG. 5 and the following description are intended toprovide a general understanding of a suitable environment in whichvarious aspects of embodiments can be implemented, and should not beconstrued as being limiting in any way.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the mobile device 500 can include a display502 for displaying data. According to various embodiments, the display502 can be configured to display network connection information, variousgraphical user interface (“GUI”) elements, text, images, video, virtualkeypads and/or keyboards, messaging data, notification messages,metadata, Internet content, device status, time, date, calendar data,device preferences, map and location data, combinations thereof, and/orthe like. The mobile device 500 also can include a processor 504 and amemory or other data storage device (“memory”) 506. The processor 504can be configured to process data and/or can execute computer-executableinstructions stored in the memory 506. The computer-executableinstructions executed by the processor 504 can include, for example, anoperating system 508, one or more applications 510, which may includethe network connection manager 210, other computer-executableinstructions stored in the memory 506, or the like. In some embodiments,the applications 510 also can include a UI application (not illustratedin FIG. 5).

The UI application can interface with the operating system 508, such asthe operating system 208 shown in FIG. 2, to facilitate user interactionwith functionality and/or data stored at the mobile device 500 and/orstored elsewhere. In some embodiments, the operating system 508 caninclude a member of the SYMBIAN OS family of operating systems fromSYMBIAN LIMITED, a member of the WINDOWS MOBILE OS and/or WINDOWS PHONEOS families of operating systems from MICROSOFT CORPORATION, a member ofthe PALM WEBOS family of operating systems from HEWLETT PACKARDCORPORATION, a member of the BLACKBERRY OS family of operating systemsfrom RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED, a member of the IOS family of operatingsystems from APPLE INC., a member of the ANDROID OS family of operatingsystems from GOOGLE INC., and/or other operating systems. Theseoperating systems are merely illustrative of some contemplated operatingsystems that may be used in accordance with various embodiments of theconcepts and technologies described herein and therefore should not beconstrued as being limiting in any way.

The UI application can be executed by the processor 504 to aid a user inanswering/initiating calls, data communications, entering/deleting data,entering and setting user IDs and passwords for device access,configuring settings, manipulating address book content and/or settings,multimode interaction, interacting with other applications 510, andotherwise facilitating user interaction with the operating system 508,the applications 510, and/or other types or instances of data 512 thatcan be stored at the mobile device 500. According to variousembodiments, the applications 510 can include, for example, presenceapplications, visual voice mail applications, messaging applications,text-to-speech and speech-to-text applications, add-ons, plug-ins, emailapplications, music applications, video applications, cameraapplications, location-based service applications, power conservationapplications, game applications, productivity applications,entertainment applications, enterprise applications, combinationsthereof, and the like. The applications 510, the data 512, and/orportions thereof can be stored in the memory 506 and/or in a firmware514, and can be executed by the processor 504. The firmware 514 also canstore code for execution during device power up and power downoperations. It can be appreciated that the firmware 514 can be stored ina volatile or non-volatile data storage device including, but notlimited to, the memory 506 and/or a portion thereof.

The mobile device 500 also can include an input/output (“I/O”) interface516. The I/O interface 516 can be configured to support the input/outputof data such as location information, presence status information, userIDs, passwords, and application initiation (start-up) requests. In someembodiments, the I/O interface 516 can include a hardwire connectionsuch as a universal serial bus (“USB”) port, a mini-USB port, amicro-USB port, an audio jack, a PS2 port, an IEEE 1394 (“FIREWIRE”)port, a serial port, a parallel port, an Ethernet (RJ411) port, an RJ11port, a proprietary port, combinations thereof, or the like. In someembodiments, the mobile device 500 can be configured to synchronize withanother device to transfer content to and/or from the mobile device 500.In some embodiments, the mobile device 500 can be configured to receiveupdates to one or more of the applications 510 via the I/O interface516, though this is not necessarily the case. In some embodiments, theI/O interface 516 accepts I/O devices such as keyboards, keypads, mice,interface tethers, printers, plotters, external storage,touch/multi-touch screens, touch pads, trackballs, joysticks,microphones, remote control devices, displays, projectors, medicalequipment (e.g., stethoscopes, heart monitors, and other health metricmonitors), modems, routers, external power sources, docking stations,combinations thereof, and the like. It should be appreciated that theI/O interface 516 may be used for communications between the mobiledevice 500 and a network device or local device.

The mobile device 500 also can include a communications component 518.The communications component 518 can be configured to interface with theprocessor 504 to facilitate wired and/or wireless communications withone or more networks such as the RANs 104 described herein. In someembodiments, other networks include networks that utilize non-cellularwireless technologies such as WI-FI or WIMAX. In some embodiments, thecommunications component 518 includes a multimode communicationssubsystem for facilitating communications via the cellular network andone or more other networks.

The communications component 518, in some embodiments, includes one ormore transceivers. The one or more transceivers, if included, can beconfigured to communicate over the same and/or different wirelesstechnology standards with respect to one another. For example, in someembodiments one or more of the transceivers of the communicationscomponent 518 may be configured to communicate using GSM, CDMAONE,CDMA2000, LTE, and various other 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, and greatergeneration technology standards. Moreover, the communications component518 may facilitate communications over various channel access methods(which may or may not be used by the aforementioned standards)including, but not limited to, TDMA, FDMA, W-CDMA, OFDM, SDMA, and thelike.

In addition, the communications component 518 may facilitate datacommunications using GPRS, EDGE, the HSPA protocol family includingHSDPA, EUL or otherwise termed HSUPA, HSPA+, and various other currentand future wireless data access standards. In the illustratedembodiment, the communications component 518 can include a firsttransceiver (“TxRx”) 520A that can operate in a first communicationsmode (e.g., GSM). The communications component 518 also can include anN^(th) transceiver (“TxRx”) 520N that can operate in a secondcommunications mode relative to the first transceiver 520A (e.g., UMTS).While two transceivers 520A-N (hereinafter collectively and/orgenerically referred to as “transceivers 520”) are shown in FIG. 5, itshould be appreciated that less than two, two, and/or more than twotransceivers 520 can be included in the communications component 518.

The communications component 518 also can include an alternativetransceiver (“Alt TxRx”) 522 for supporting other types and/or standardsof communications. According to various contemplated embodiments, thealternative transceiver 522 can communicate using various communicationstechnologies such as, for example, WI-FI, WIMAX, BLUETOOTH, infrared,infrared data association (“IRDA”), near field communications (“NFC”),other RF technologies, combinations thereof, and the like. In someembodiments, the communications component 518 also can facilitatereception from terrestrial radio networks, digital satellite radionetworks, internet-based radio service networks, combinations thereof,and the like. The communications component 518 can process data from anetwork such as the Internet, an intranet, a broadband network, a WI-FIhotspot, an Internet service provider (“ISP”), a digital subscriber line(“DSL”) provider, a broadband provider, combinations thereof, or thelike.

The mobile device 500 also can include one or more sensors 524. Thesensors 524 can include temperature sensors, light sensors, air qualitysensors, movement sensors, accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes,infrared sensors, orientation sensors, noise sensors, microphonesproximity sensors, combinations thereof, and/or the like. Additionally,audio capabilities for the mobile device 500 may be provided by an audioI/O component 526. The audio I/O component 526 of the mobile device 500can include one or more speakers for the output of audio signals, one ormore microphones for the collection and/or input of audio signals,and/or other audio input and/or output devices.

The illustrated mobile device 500 also can include a subscriber identitymodule (“SIM”) system 528. The SIM system 528 can include a universalSIM (“USIM”), a universal integrated circuit card (“UICC”) and/or otheridentity devices. The SIM system 528 can include and/or can be connectedto or inserted into an interface such as a slot interface 530. In someembodiments, the slot interface 530 can be configured to acceptinsertion of other identity cards or modules for accessing various typesof networks. Additionally, or alternatively, the slot interface 530 canbe configured to accept multiple subscriber identity cards. Becauseother devices and/or modules for identifying users and/or the mobiledevice 500 are contemplated, it should be understood that theseembodiments are illustrative, and should not be construed as beinglimiting in any way.

The mobile device 500 also can include an image capture and processingsystem 532 (“image system”). The image system 532 can be configured tocapture or otherwise obtain photos, videos, and/or other visualinformation. As such, the image system 532 can include cameras, lenses,charge-coupled devices (“CCDs”), combinations thereof, or the like. Themobile device 500 may also include a video system 534. The video system534 can be configured to capture, process, record, modify, and/or storevideo content. Photos and videos obtained using the image system 532 andthe video system 534, respectively, may be added as message content toan MMS message, email message, and sent to another mobile device. Thevideo and/or photo content also can be shared with other devices viavarious types of data transfers via wired and/or wireless communicationdevices as described herein.

The mobile device 500 also can include one or more location components536. The location components 536 can be configured to send and/orreceive signals to determine a geographic location of the mobile device500. According to various embodiments, the location components 536 cansend and/or receive signals from global positioning system (“GPS”)devices, assisted-GPS (“A-GPS”) devices, WI-FI/WIMAX and/or cellularnetwork triangulation data, combinations thereof, and the like. Thelocation component 536 also can be configured to communicate with thecommunications component 518 to retrieve triangulation data fordetermining a location of the mobile device 500. In some embodiments,the location component 536 can interface with cellular network nodes,telephone lines, satellites, location transmitters and/or beacons,wireless network transmitters and receivers, combinations thereof, andthe like. In some embodiments, the location component 536 can includeand/or can communicate with one or more of the sensors 524 such as acompass, an accelerometer, and/or a gyroscope to determine theorientation of the mobile device 500. Using the location component 536,the mobile device 500 can generate and/or receive data to identify itsgeographic location, or to transmit data used by other devices todetermine the location of the mobile device 500. The location component536 may include multiple components for determining the location and/ororientation of the mobile device 500.

The illustrated mobile device 500 also can include a power source 538.The power source 538 can include one or more batteries, power supplies,power cells, and/or other power subsystems including alternating current(“AC”) and/or direct current (“DC”) power devices. The power source 538also can interface with an external power system or charging equipmentvia a power I/O component 540. Because the mobile device 500 can includeadditional and/or alternative components, the above embodiment should beunderstood as being illustrative of one possible operating environmentfor various embodiments of the concepts and technologies describedherein. The described embodiment of the mobile device 500 isillustrative, and should not be construed as being limiting in any way.

As used herein, communication media includes computer-executableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in amodulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism and includes any delivery media. The term “modulated datasignal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristicschanged or set in a manner as to encode information in the signal. Byway of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wiredmedia such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wirelessmedia such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.Combinations of the any of the above should also be included within thescope of computer-readable media.

By way of example, and not limitation, computer storage media mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage of information suchas computer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules,or other data. For example, computer media includes, but is not limitedto, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memorytechnology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), HD-DVD, BLU-RAY, orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe mobile device 500 or other devices or computers described herein,such as the computer system 400 described above with reference to FIG.4. For purposes of the claims, the phrase “computer-readable storagemedium” and variations thereof, does not include waves, signals, and/orother transitory and/or intangible communication media, per se. In anillustrative embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium is atangible computer-readable storage medium.

Encoding the software modules presented herein also may transform thephysical structure of the computer-readable media presented herein. Thespecific transformation of physical structure may depend on variousfactors, in different implementations of this description. Examples ofsuch factors may include, but are not limited to, the technology used toimplement the computer-readable media, whether the computer-readablemedia is characterized as primary or secondary storage, and the like.For example, if the computer-readable media is implemented assemiconductor-based memory, the software disclosed herein may be encodedon the computer-readable media by transforming the physical state of thesemiconductor memory. For example, the software may transform the stateof transistors, capacitors, or other discrete circuit elementsconstituting the semiconductor memory. The software also may transformthe physical state of such components in order to store data thereupon.

As another example, the computer-readable media disclosed herein may beimplemented using magnetic or optical technology. In suchimplementations, the software presented herein may transform thephysical state of magnetic or optical media, when the software isencoded therein. These transformations may include altering the magneticcharacteristics of particular locations within given magnetic media.These transformations also may include altering the physical features orcharacteristics of particular locations within given optical media, tochange the optical characteristics of those locations. Othertransformations of physical media are possible without departing fromthe scope and spirit of the present description, with the foregoingexamples provided only to facilitate this discussion.

In light of the above, it should be appreciated that many types ofphysical transformations take place in the mobile device 500 in order tostore and execute the software components presented herein. It is alsocontemplated that the mobile device 500 may not include all of thecomponents shown in FIG. 5, may include other components that are notexplicitly shown in FIG. 5, or may utilize an architecture completelydifferent than that shown in FIG. 5.

As used herein, “cause a processor to perform operations” includescausing a processor of a computing system or computing device such asthe mobile device 102, the RAT selection system 106, the policy server112, or the user profile server 116, to perform one or more operationsof the operations and/or causing the processor to direct othercomponents of the computing system or device to perform one or more ofthe operations.

Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that concepts andtechnologies for network-based intelligent radio access control havebeen disclosed herein. Although the subject matter presented herein hasbeen described in language specific to computer structural features,methodological and transformative acts, specific computing machinery,and computer-readable media, it is to be understood that the inventiondefined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to thespecific features, acts, or media described herein. Rather, the specificfeatures, acts and mediums are disclosed as example forms ofimplementing the claims.

The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustrationonly and should not be construed as limiting. Various modifications andchanges may be made to the subject matter described herein withoutfollowing the example embodiments and applications illustrated anddescribed, and without departing from the true spirit and scope of thesubject disclosure.

We claim:
 1. A radio access technology selection system comprising: anetwork database repository comprising historic network load informationassociated with a historic network load experienced by a plurality ofradio access networks to which a target mobile device is capable ofconnecting, the plurality of radio access networks operating inaccordance with a plurality of radio access technologies; a processor;and a memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising identifying, based upon the historic network loadinformation, network load trends for at least a portion of the pluralityof radio access networks, determining, based upon the network loadtrends, a first time during which there is predicted to be a favorablenetwork load capable of supporting communications associated with thetarget mobile device, determining, based upon the network load trends, asecond time during which there is predicted to be a non-favorablenetwork load incapable of supporting communications associated with thetarget mobile device, receiving a policy, receiving current network loadinformation from the plurality of radio access networks to which thetarget mobile device is capable of connecting, identifying a firstapplication, executable by the target mobile device, that requiresconnectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks,identifying a second application, executable by the target mobiledevice, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality ofradio access networks, selecting, for the first application, a firstradio access network of the plurality of radio access networks basedupon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorablenetwork load capable of supporting communications with the target mobiledevice, the second time during which there is predicted to be thenon-favorable network load incapable of supporting communicationsassociated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the currentnetwork load information, selecting, for the second application, asecond radio access network of the plurality of radio access networksbased upon the first time during which there is predicted to be thefavorable network load capable of supporting communications with thetarget mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted tobe the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communicationsassociated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the currentnetwork load information, generating a network selection directed to thetarget mobile device, the network selection instructing the targetmobile device to connect to the first radio access network for using thefirst application and to connect to the second radio access network forusing the second application, and sending the network selection to thetarget mobile device.
 2. The radio access technology selection system ofclaim 1, wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to selecteach of the plurality of radio access networks.
 3. The radio accesstechnology selection system of claim 2, wherein the conditions comprisenetwork load thresholds for each of the plurality of radio accessnetworks, the network load thresholds each identifying a maximum networkload for one of the plurality of radio access networks.
 4. The radioaccess technology selection system of claim 3, wherein: selecting, forthe first application, the first radio access network of the pluralityof radio access networks based upon the policy and the current networkload information comprises selecting, for the first application, thefirst radio access network of the plurality of radio access networksbased upon a first network load of the first radio access networkdetermined from the current network load information being less than themaximum network load for the first radio access network as specified bya first network load threshold for the first radio access network; andselecting, for the second application, the second radio access networkof the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy and thecurrent network load information comprises selecting, for the secondapplication, the second radio access network of the plurality of radioaccess networks based upon a second network load of the second radioaccess network determined from the current network load informationbeing less than the maximum network load for the second radio accessnetwork as specified by a second network load threshold for the secondradio access network.
 5. The radio access technology selection system ofclaim 2, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a userprofile associated with a user of the target mobile device; and wherein:selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network ofthe plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the userprofile; and selecting, for the second application, the second radioaccess network of the plurality of radio access networks is furtherbased upon the user profile.
 6. The radio access technology selectionsystem of claim 5, wherein the conditions define priorities for aplurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality ofradio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier ofthe plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of theuser, the service tier being defined in a service agreement.
 7. Theradio access technology selection system of claim 6, wherein: selecting,for the first application, the first radio access network of theplurality of radio access networks based upon the policy, the currentnetwork load information, and the user profile comprises selecting, forthe first application, the first radio access network based upon theservice tier providing priority to the user to connect to the firstradio access network via the target mobile device; and selecting, forthe second application, the second radio access network of the pluralityof radio access networks based upon the policy and the current networkload information comprises selecting, for the second application, thesecond radio access network of the plurality of radio access networksbased upon a second network load of the second radio access networkdetermined from the current network load information being less than themaximum network load for the second radio access network as specified bya second network load threshold for the second radio access network. 8.The radio access technology selection system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of radio access technologies comprise a WI-FI technology and amobile telecommunications technology.
 9. A method comprising: storing,by a radio access technology selection system, in a network databaserepository, historic network load information associated with a historicnetwork load experienced by a plurality of radio access networks towhich a target mobile device is capable of connecting, the plurality ofradio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radioaccess technologies; identifying, by the radio access technologyselection system, based upon the historic network load information,network load trends for at least a portion of the plurality of radioaccess networks; determining, by the radio access technology selectionsystem, based upon the network load trends, a first time during whichthere is predicted to be a favorable network load capable of supportingcommunications associated with the target mobile device; determining, bythe radio access technology selection system, based upon the networkload trends, a second time during which there is predicted to be anon-favorable network load incapable of supporting communicationsassociated with the target mobile device; receiving, at the radio accesstechnology selection system, a policy; receiving, at the radio accesstechnology selection system, current network load information from theplurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device iscapable of connecting; identifying, by the radio access technologyselection system, a first application, executable by the target mobiledevice, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality ofradio access networks; identifying, by the radio access technologyselection system, a second application, executable by the target mobiledevice, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality ofradio access networks; selecting, by the radio access technologyselection system, for the first application, a first radio accessnetwork of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the firsttime during which there is predicted to be the favorable network loadcapable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, thesecond time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorablenetwork load incapable of supporting communications associated with thetarget mobile device, the policy and the current network loadinformation; selecting, by the radio access technology selection system,for the second application, a second radio access network of theplurality of radio access networks based upon the first time duringwhich there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable ofsupporting communications with the target mobile device, the second timeduring which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network loadincapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobiledevice, the policy, and the current network load information;generating, by the radio access technology selection system, a networkselection directed to the target mobile device, the network selectioninstructing the target mobile device to connect to the first radioaccess network for using the first application and to connect to thesecond radio access network for using the second application; andsending, by the radio access technology selection system, the networkselection to the target mobile device.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each ofthe plurality of radio access networks.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the conditions comprise a network load threshold for each of theplurality of radio access networks, the network load thresholdidentifying a maximum network load for a corresponding one of theplurality of radio access networks.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising receiving a user profile associated with a user of the targetmobile device and wherein: selecting, for the first application, thefirst radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks isfurther based upon the user profile; and selecting, for the secondapplication, the second radio access network of the plurality of radioaccess networks is further based upon the user profile.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein the conditions define priorities for a plurality ofservice tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio accessnetworks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the pluralityof service tiers associated with a service account of the user, theservice tier being defined in a service agreement.
 14. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the plurality of radio access technologies comprise aWI-FI technology and a mobile telecommunications technology.
 15. Acomputer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor toperform operations comprising: causing to be stored in a networkdatabase repository, historic network load information associated with ahistoric network load experienced by a plurality of radio accessnetworks to which a target mobile device is capable of connecting, theplurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with aplurality of radio access technologies; identifying, based upon thehistoric network load information, network load trends for at least aportion of the plurality of radio access networks; determining, basedupon the network load trends, a first time during which there ispredicted to be a favorable network load capable of supportingcommunications associated with the target mobile device; determining,based upon the network load trends, a second time during which there ispredicted to be a non-favorable network load incapable of supportingcommunications associated with the target mobile device; receiving apolicy specifying conditions under which to select each radio accesstechnology of the plurality of radio access technologies utilized by theplurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device iscapable of connecting; receiving a user profile associated with a userof the target mobile device; collecting current network load informationfrom the plurality of radio access networks to which the target mobiledevice is capable of connecting; identifying a first application,executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to atleast one of the plurality of radio access networks; identifying asecond application, executable by the target mobile device, thatrequires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio accessnetworks; selecting, for the first application, a first radio accessnetwork of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the firsttime during which there is predicted to be the favorable network loadcapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobiledevice, the second time during which there is predicted to be thenon-favorable network load incapable of supporting communicationsassociated with the target mobile device, the policy, the currentnetwork load information, and the user profile; selecting, for thesecond application, a second radio access network of the plurality ofradio access networks based upon the first time during which there ispredicted to be the favorable network load capable of supportingcommunications with the target mobile device, the second time duringwhich there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapableof supporting communications associated with the target mobile device,the policy, and the current network load information; generating anetwork selection directed to the target mobile device, the networkselection instructing the target mobile device to connect to the firstradio access network for using the first application and to connect tothe second radio access network for using the second application; andsending the network selection to the target mobile device.
 16. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality ofradio access technologies comprises Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsService, Long-Term Evolution, and WI-FI.
 17. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein the user profile specifies a servicetier of a service account associated with the target mobile device and adevice type of the target mobile device, and the conditions specify amaximum network load for each of the plurality of radio access networksand a preferred radio access network that the target mobile device is topreferably connect based upon the service tier, wherein the service tieris defined in a service agreement.